Elemental (story)

"Elemental" is a science fiction/fantasy novella by Geoffrey A. Landis. It was first published in Analog Science Fiction, in December 1984.[1]

Synopsis

In a late 21st century where magic has been systematized and incorporated into technology, two graduate students and their advisors discover the signs of an imminent disaster.

Reception

"Elemental" was a finalist for the 1985 Hugo Award for Best Novella.[2]

The SF Site describes it as having a "Connie Willis-rewrites-Heinlein's-Magic, Inc. flavour", but notes that it "doesn't quite work".[3] John Grant, writing at Infinity Plus, judged it to be "a piece of (relative) juvenilia", "clumsy", and "a bit of an embarrassment",[4] and observed that Landis has admitted to having "mixed feelings about" the story.[5]

gollark: I was considering a maze as the "challenge" to uninstall potatOS.
gollark: DOWN WITH SECURITY THROUGH OBSCURITY!
gollark: Basically, yes.
gollark: There are programs to allow remote peripheral access if you hook a computer with a wireless modem to the peripheral in question.
gollark: Not directly, anyway.

References
  1. "Elemental" at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database; retrieved June 17, 2017
  2. 1985 Hugo Awards Archived 2011-05-07 at WebCite, at TheHugoAwards.org; retrieved June 17, 2017
  3. Impact Parameter and other Quantum Realities, by Geoffrey A. Landis; reviewed by Greg L. Johnson, at the SF Site; published 2001; retrieved June 17, 2017
  4. Impact Parameter, and Other Quantum Realities, by Geoffrey A Landis, reviewed by John Grant, at Infinity Plus; published March 16, 2002; retrieved June 17, 2017
  5. Impact Parameter and Other Quantum Realities, by Geoffrey Landis, published by Golden Gryphon Press in 2001; "Elemental was my first published story. I have mixed feelings about it now. With sixteen years of hindsight, it seems to me that the story is a little crude, the plot a little naive. But then, when I wrote it, I didn't know what I was doing."
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